We’ve been home about 12 days now and we are starting to settle back into our “routine” here. Our trip to the United States was such a blessing! We saw SO MANY friends and family – and still couldn’t get around to everyone that we wanted to see. We were in Colorado for about three week s and Mississippi for one week. Our time in Colorado was divided up into three categories: Dave working, all of us spending time with family in and around Denver, and all of us spending time with our friends from the Fort Collins and Greeley area. Dave worked for three days in Salt Lake and for also spent several days on site with a client in Loveland Colorado. During this time, Marinajo and the kids got to spend some great time with grandma (Marinajo’s mom) putting out the Christmas decorations and baking. When in Denver, we mostly stayed with Marinajo’s brother Kip and his wife Patsy - they are some of our best buddies and we wish that we could have spent more time there. Christmas was really special as we were able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with Artie and Mary, and Archie - Marinajo’s parents and her brother. It was neat to be able to have Christmas morning there with them. True to his nature, Santa found us there! Benny got a bow and arrow set from Santa and a new BB Gun from grandpa Fields in Tennessee. Mariah got a new digital camera and is now happily posting pictures on Facebook.
After Christmas we spent time up in Northern Colorado (Fort Collins and Greeley) trying to see as many friends as possible. Our host family was our dear friends the Edens and we were just so happy to be able to spend time with them. Their welcome and their hospitality just reminded us of how much we love them and how much we miss them down here. They must have felt like characters in a sitcom at times as we would leave each evening to go “have supper” with yet another family and then come blowing back in with the cold December wind about 10pm and so tired we could drop. We were also able to worship with our church family in the Spanish speaking service at Christ Community Church in Greeley. Marinajo was able to play in the praise and worship band for three Sundays and I was able to share briefly (in Spanish!) one Sunday. This Spanish church is experiencing huge growth and we were so blessed to be able to compartir (share) with them our new life here in Honduras.
It was an exhausting, but wonderful time catching up with all of our friends and renewing deep friendships. We are just so blessed to have so many wonderful friends! The miles and the time don’t change everything – they don’t change the love that we share with people. EVERYONE remarked on how big the kids were and lots of people said to me (Dave), “I thought you’d be more tan”…… Funny! I guess since we only send pictures back of us at the beach that people think that must be all we do - go down to the beach. (Full disclosure –We’ve been to the beach twice this weekend – two times in the last two days) Unfortunately, this is not the case. Most days I sit in a concrete office all day and do IT work for the hospital and for Intelligent Design IT. We usually get to go to the beach on the weekends, but it had been quite awhile since we had been able to go before we left. So, I guess that is why I was so pale.
After Colorado we flew down to Mississippi for a one week visit to our sending church – The Church of the Good Shepherd – and to visit with some of the people that we served during our time doing hurricane relief work there after Katrina. WE JUST HAD A WONDERFUL TIME IN MS! We were so warmly greeted by our home church down there that several times we were moved to tears over their love and care for us (thank you church family!). One church member picked us up the airport with ALL of our luggage and ALL of us, another church member vacated her home for one week so that we could stay there by ourselves. Still another wrote us ahead of time to see what we wanted to eat and had a BIG pot of Gumbo on the stove, a pecan pie that was absolutely OUT OF THIS WORLD on the table and some huge juicy steaks in the fridge waiting for us when we got there. Honestly, I don’t think we’ve ever received this kind of love and attention anywhere. We got to spend some good time with two of the ladies that we were closest with during our time in Mississippi doing hurricane relief work, Ms Barbara and Ms Bea. What a huge blessing it was to be able to reconnect with them – we just picked up right where we left off. We were also able to see our friends at First Baptist church, whom we spent much much time with after the storm. This church, while devastated by the storm, housed volunteers and even gave me a Sunday School room to use as an office for about two years. We have deep close ties with this church, so it was so wonderful to see their new Sanctuary – now completed. It was even better to hear of the growth that the church is experiencing. I believe God is giving them a harvest of souls because of their sacrificial work after the storm.
I got my dates mixed up and we missed our flights back to Honduras. Thank God for a lady on the Continental international flight customer service line who was able to get all of our flights rescheduled and graciously waived all of the change fees! What a miracle and answer to some brief but very fervent prayer on my part!
Now that we’ve been home for almost two weeks, I can honestly say that this is home for us now. We are just so thankful to be here. In the midst of all of the travel and going back “home” (what used to be home for us) – it is just so clear to us that this is where God wants us to be. He moved our hearts down here and we just love it here. We now have a home we can call our own here at the hospital and it helps SO MUCH to just be settled. I get up every morning and look out over the Caribbean and realize that I am one of the luckiest people alive. We pray that God would just use us for His glory here, because right now – it feels like life is TOO good – I hope that makes sense. We’ve been fortunate that our Spanish teacher Diana is now staying with us four nights a week and is REALLY building up her new business down here. This means that we are getting lots of practice and training with our Spanish – an answer to prayer! We feel like this year we’ll be able to finally get to a point in our Spanish where we can really begin to minister to the local Honduran people with more than small talk – but rather heart talk.
Lastly (these updates ALWAYS end up so much longer than I anticipated when I first sit down to write them), I am reading “What’s So Amazing About Grace” by Phil Yancey for the second time right now and let me just beg each and every Christian that is reading this to please read this book. And if you haven’t read it in awhile, let me ask you to read it again. I realize each day as I read it HOW MUCH we need to be reminded of this central theme in Christianity and how often we fail to express grace to our fellow Christians and (worse) to those that are not Christians. Christ’s life and the writings of the New Testament are RADICAL DEPARTURES from the social norms of the day and what makes them radical of the lifestyle of obedience and sacrifice that we are to live as Christians. The message of Grace MUST BE intertwined deeply within this lifestyle of obedience and sacrifice, or our religious lives degenerate into religious works. Without grace, our message rings empty in a graceless world. The world is not looking for more rules to follow; rather they are looking for redeeming love. It is grace that expresses that redeeming love to a dying world. Yes, grace must be expressed within the context of the gospel, which includes the message of sin and condemnation for those that do not choose God’s grace. I realize that. But when Jesus said we are to be salt and light, I believe that Grace was, and is, the central empowering force for TO BE THAT SALT AND LIGHT in the fallen world in which we live.
May God’s grace touch you this day anew and may we each live our lives out of the abundance of fear, awe, wonder, and joy that His grace has touched someone like me. Amen. God Bless each of you and we pray that you are warm and well in HIS LOVE this day.
Dave and Marinajo
Mariah and Benny
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Monday, November 30, 2009
Elections in Honduras--praise report!
Dear friends and family,
Starting on June 25th, I sent out a series of emails requesting prayer about the political crisis in Honduras. Please know that yesterday, God answered many prayers - free and peaceful elections were held here in Honduras! Several notes below describe our thanksgiving in words that are much better than any I could have chosen, so I will defer to them and ask you to read the notes below if your are interested in learning more about the elections yesterday.
Suffice to say that God miraculously intervened in this tiny little country and helped them avoid losing many of their freedoms. Thank you for supporting us and Honduras through your prayers!
Please know that our family is well. We've just moved into a new (different) house and have been very busy over the Thanksgiving holiday. We are healthy and the kids are doing great. We will be sending out a newsletter in a couple of weeks with more info, but we wanted to get this out as soon as possible.
Please join us in thanking God for His divine intervention here in Honduras and please join us in our continued prayers for the people and country of Honduras.
Take care,
Dave and Marinajo Fields
Mariah and Benny
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sally Mahoney
Date: Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 4:52 PM
Subject: elections in Honduras--praise report
To: sally mahoney
Dear Cornerstone Friends--
God has been at work, and He deserves all the praise we can give Him. When I wrote to you in early November, an agreement had been signed between Honduras and the representatives of Zelaya. The agreement said that the Congress of Honduras (with input from the Honduran Supreme Court) would vote on whether to allow Zelaya to serve the remainder of his term, and in exchange for this the United States and other world powers said they would recognize the coming elections in Honduras as legitimate. Once Zelaya began to realize that the Congress wasn't going to vote about what to do with him until after the elections took place, he began to issue complaints/threats/rants from the Brazillian Embassy, but miraculously and thankfully, even the people who had represented Zelaya at the talks were standing by the signed agreement. During the last days leading up to the election there were a few terrorist-style attempts to make Honduras afraid to proceed as planned, but those attempts did not succeed.
Yesterday (Sunday the 29th) the elections took place, and we cannot give God enough praise for how it went. The turn-out was very, very high (near 64% or so) and peaceful and without any untoward incident. There were over 400 election observers from around the world, and all declared the elections transparent and exemplary. Five of the Loma de Luz missionaries--Jeff McKenney, Don and Suzanne Rumbaugh, Brad War, and Ian McKenzie--were asked by the Honduran government to serve as election observers in their region. They had the same glad news to report for their region as did the observers in the rest of the country--peaceful, very participatory, very done-right, very free.
The winner of the election and next president of Honduras is Porfirio Lobo. When Jeff wrote me last night, the polls had closed but the vote count was not yet finished. But the main story was not who won the election but that the election took place, took place in the manner it did, and that it will be recognized by the USA, Germany, Japan, Costa Rica, Panama, and a number of other nations. By the end of the day yesterday, they didn't know who'd won the presidency, but it was clear who had won on the larger stage. It was clear that God had triumphed over all, and Honduras had won the battle that came to them. Thank you so much for praying. Please continue to pray for Honduras. There are still decisions to be made about what to do with Zelaya, there are still bad guys who have reason to hold a grudge against Honduras, etc. So don't quit praying. But this is a time to stop and pause and rejoice and praise.
We can't thank you enough for praying.
I'll just copy Dr. Jeff's words below.
We are proud of Honduras, thankful to you for your prayer, and praising God.
--Sally Mahoney for Cornerstone
30 November 2009
----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff and Rosanne Mckenney
To: Sally Mahoney ; Marty McKenney
Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2009 6:21 PM
Subject: Elections
The polls in Honduras officially closed at 5:00 P.M.. The newspapers are all reporting what was also our experience here: there was a massive peaceful and successful turnout. All Intl/ observers are reporting the same thing in the papers. This has been a great day for Honduras. We are in such a vastly different place than we would have been if the People had not stood up for their democracy and stood against those who would have stolen it and sold it cheaply.
Preliminary results are scheduled to be announced by the TSE ( the supreme electoral tribunal) at 1900. ( Here the press is not allowed to call an election). But, regardless of which candidates win or lose, everyone is in agreement, Honduras has won. I believe the Lord has seen Honduras through.
-j
Starting on June 25th, I sent out a series of emails requesting prayer about the political crisis in Honduras. Please know that yesterday, God answered many prayers - free and peaceful elections were held here in Honduras! Several notes below describe our thanksgiving in words that are much better than any I could have chosen, so I will defer to them and ask you to read the notes below if your are interested in learning more about the elections yesterday.
Suffice to say that God miraculously intervened in this tiny little country and helped them avoid losing many of their freedoms. Thank you for supporting us and Honduras through your prayers!
Please know that our family is well. We've just moved into a new (different) house and have been very busy over the Thanksgiving holiday. We are healthy and the kids are doing great. We will be sending out a newsletter in a couple of weeks with more info, but we wanted to get this out as soon as possible.
Please join us in thanking God for His divine intervention here in Honduras and please join us in our continued prayers for the people and country of Honduras.
Take care,
Dave and Marinajo Fields
Mariah and Benny
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sally Mahoney
Date: Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 4:52 PM
Subject: elections in Honduras--praise report
To: sally mahoney
Dear Cornerstone Friends--
God has been at work, and He deserves all the praise we can give Him. When I wrote to you in early November, an agreement had been signed between Honduras and the representatives of Zelaya. The agreement said that the Congress of Honduras (with input from the Honduran Supreme Court) would vote on whether to allow Zelaya to serve the remainder of his term, and in exchange for this the United States and other world powers said they would recognize the coming elections in Honduras as legitimate. Once Zelaya began to realize that the Congress wasn't going to vote about what to do with him until after the elections took place, he began to issue complaints/threats/rants from the Brazillian Embassy, but miraculously and thankfully, even the people who had represented Zelaya at the talks were standing by the signed agreement. During the last days leading up to the election there were a few terrorist-style attempts to make Honduras afraid to proceed as planned, but those attempts did not succeed.
Yesterday (Sunday the 29th) the elections took place, and we cannot give God enough praise for how it went. The turn-out was very, very high (near 64% or so) and peaceful and without any untoward incident. There were over 400 election observers from around the world, and all declared the elections transparent and exemplary. Five of the Loma de Luz missionaries--Jeff McKenney, Don and Suzanne Rumbaugh, Brad War, and Ian McKenzie--were asked by the Honduran government to serve as election observers in their region. They had the same glad news to report for their region as did the observers in the rest of the country--peaceful, very participatory, very done-right, very free.
The winner of the election and next president of Honduras is Porfirio Lobo. When Jeff wrote me last night, the polls had closed but the vote count was not yet finished. But the main story was not who won the election but that the election took place, took place in the manner it did, and that it will be recognized by the USA, Germany, Japan, Costa Rica, Panama, and a number of other nations. By the end of the day yesterday, they didn't know who'd won the presidency, but it was clear who had won on the larger stage. It was clear that God had triumphed over all, and Honduras had won the battle that came to them. Thank you so much for praying. Please continue to pray for Honduras. There are still decisions to be made about what to do with Zelaya, there are still bad guys who have reason to hold a grudge against Honduras, etc. So don't quit praying. But this is a time to stop and pause and rejoice and praise.
We can't thank you enough for praying.
I'll just copy Dr. Jeff's words below.
We are proud of Honduras, thankful to you for your prayer, and praising God.
--Sally Mahoney for Cornerstone
30 November 2009
----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff and Rosanne Mckenney
To: Sally Mahoney ; Marty McKenney
Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2009 6:21 PM
Subject: Elections
The polls in Honduras officially closed at 5:00 P.M.. The newspapers are all reporting what was also our experience here: there was a massive peaceful and successful turnout. All Intl/ observers are reporting the same thing in the papers. This has been a great day for Honduras. We are in such a vastly different place than we would have been if the People had not stood up for their democracy and stood against those who would have stolen it and sold it cheaply.
Preliminary results are scheduled to be announced by the TSE ( the supreme electoral tribunal) at 1900. ( Here the press is not allowed to call an election). But, regardless of which candidates win or lose, everyone is in agreement, Honduras has won. I believe the Lord has seen Honduras through.
-j
Monday, September 21, 2009
Escalation in the political crisis in Honduras. A request for prayer.
Dear friends and family,
You may have heard that the political crisis here in Honduras has escalated rapidly today. Deposed ex-president Mel Zelaya, emboldened by support from US and Chavez in Venezuela, has returned to the country today and is currently "holed up" in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa - the capital city of Honduras.
First of all, let me assure you that we are quite safe. There is no reason to think that we are in any new or additional danger due to the political events here. We are so far removed from the seat of the crisis up here in the jungle on the north coast of Honduras that we see no almost no evidence of the political strife that is so prevalent now.
There is, however, a curfew that was instituted this afternoon and has now been extended throughout the day tomorrow. This is a prudent decision from the current government which will curtail the movement of the protesters who would simply love to take advantage of the situation and further their agenda of political disruption and even violence. All international flights have been cancelled. I (Dave) am SO thankful that I was able to get back into the country and be with my family before this happened. For those of you who don't know, I just returned Saturday from a 2-week trip to the States.
We do urgently ask for your prayers for wisdom for those in the government and for prudence, safety, and peace for the people of Honduras. In the midst of all of this, we pray that God's glory would be revealed and that He would draw many unto Himself during this time.
We ask you to read this article from the Wall Street Journal, which asks the question that all Americans should be asking of their government right now: Why isn't the United States supporting democracy in Honduras? Even if Honduras (very understandably) isn't on the top of your list of things to be worried about right now, all American should be concerned with the current administration's response to this crisis.
The article can be found here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574423570828980800.html
The answer to this situation is not simply a political one, and I offer this political criticism as a Christian that recognizes the need for God to intervene here. But, I also believe that we as citizens must never stop asking the hard questions of those who would govern us. Please consider whether or not it might be appropriate to bring this to the attention of your local, state, and federal representatives. I assure you that, from my perspective, the actions of the United States have played a very detrimental role in this political crisis.
Lastly please know that we are well and safe. We thank God for each of you and we hope that you are well to. Please drop us a line some time and let us know how you are doing.
Thank you and God Bless,
Dave and Marinajo Fields
Mariah and Benny
You may have heard that the political crisis here in Honduras has escalated rapidly today. Deposed ex-president Mel Zelaya, emboldened by support from US and Chavez in Venezuela, has returned to the country today and is currently "holed up" in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa - the capital city of Honduras.
First of all, let me assure you that we are quite safe. There is no reason to think that we are in any new or additional danger due to the political events here. We are so far removed from the seat of the crisis up here in the jungle on the north coast of Honduras that we see no almost no evidence of the political strife that is so prevalent now.
There is, however, a curfew that was instituted this afternoon and has now been extended throughout the day tomorrow. This is a prudent decision from the current government which will curtail the movement of the protesters who would simply love to take advantage of the situation and further their agenda of political disruption and even violence. All international flights have been cancelled. I (Dave) am SO thankful that I was able to get back into the country and be with my family before this happened. For those of you who don't know, I just returned Saturday from a 2-week trip to the States.
We do urgently ask for your prayers for wisdom for those in the government and for prudence, safety, and peace for the people of Honduras. In the midst of all of this, we pray that God's glory would be revealed and that He would draw many unto Himself during this time.
We ask you to read this article from the Wall Street Journal, which asks the question that all Americans should be asking of their government right now: Why isn't the United States supporting democracy in Honduras? Even if Honduras (very understandably) isn't on the top of your list of things to be worried about right now, all American should be concerned with the current administration's response to this crisis.
The article can be found here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574423570828980800.html
The answer to this situation is not simply a political one, and I offer this political criticism as a Christian that recognizes the need for God to intervene here. But, I also believe that we as citizens must never stop asking the hard questions of those who would govern us. Please consider whether or not it might be appropriate to bring this to the attention of your local, state, and federal representatives. I assure you that, from my perspective, the actions of the United States have played a very detrimental role in this political crisis.
Lastly please know that we are well and safe. We thank God for each of you and we hope that you are well to. Please drop us a line some time and let us know how you are doing.
Thank you and God Bless,
Dave and Marinajo Fields
Mariah and Benny
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)